By
Peter Temba
May 15,
2012
Moshi
— ENVIRONMENT, Human Rights Care and Gender Organization (ENVIROCARE) has
established a project with the aim of enabling coffee growers and their
families to actively participate in environmental conservation through organic
farming.
The
project dubbed "Improved Rural Livelihoods and Economic Empowerment for
Small-scale Coffee Farmers through A Quality Management System in Rombo
District, Kilimanjaro Region" targets 4,016 cooperative coffee farmers and
their families.
According
to the Project Manager, Ms Grace Murunji, if the project succeeds then poverty
and environmental degradation will be reduced through adoption of organic
farming practices by next year.
She
said that by next year, project beneficiaries, namely Ushiri, Keryo, Mrao and
Kirwa-Keni Rural Cooperative Societies will have increased average coffee
yields per tree from the current one to two kilogrammes, increase premium
grades of coffee from 60 per cent to 90 per cent and to train 104 promoter
farmers and five gender promoter farmers to train others.
By
the end of the project, environmental degradation will have been reduced and
the societies will have increased the effectiveness of quality teams
(cooperative management) in each cooperative setting and implemented their quality
plan.
Ms
Murunji added that by next year the societies will have facilitated small-scale
farmers to access reliable and sustainable market for quality coffee as well as
build institutional capacities of farmers to ensure sustainability.
The
project has already conducted sensitization / introductory meetings on improved
coffee markets, coffee quality and quantity as well as provision of
agricultural inputs and seedlings and introduction of certification programmes
that is fair trade, organic and rain forest alliance.
She
said so far 1,800 farmers have been registered and registration was still
ongoing in Rombo and in order to build capacities of promoter farmers,
ENVIROCARE and other stakeholders, a total of 11 participants attended a
Quality Management System training course in Rombo.
According
to Ms Murunji, promoter farmers have been trained on land preparation,
including clearing, hole digging, manure application and mulching as well as
drying, sorting, grading, storage, cherry picking and coffee processing.
Promoter
farmers have also been trained on intercropping, green mulching and weeding,
shade control, soil fertility measures with emphasis on proper composting, soil
and water conservation and cooperative management. On challenges of the
project, Ms Murunji said documentation in the cooperatives was very poor and
old fashioned and that multiple certification costs were too high for farmers
to invest in it.
She
said members do not know their roles and have less knowledge of the Cooperative
Act. There is also lack of transparency in rural cooperative societies as well
as lack of coffee seedlings that are supported by the government.
However,
plans are underway to take promoter farmers to Tanzania Coffee Research
Institute (TaCRI) to attend training on seedling grafting in order to assist
farmers raise their own seedlings in nurseries. Some cooperatives have no
electricity, so computer knowledge is a problem, she said, adding that a lot of
taxes deducted from farmers' coffee sales leave them with little for upkeep.